America's Got Talent In New York City and New Jersey

Free Tickets to NBC's America's Got Talent. Show Summary & Photos

America's Got Talent - Show Summary
NBC's hit TV show America's Got Talent (or AGT as it is often known) is now taped out of the New York City area. New York Show Tickets Inc is not the official supplier of tickets for this show.
Now in its tenth season, the show stars regular people with talents and boasts well-known judges Howard Stern, Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum and Mel B. Former judges have included Piers Morgan, David Hasselhoff, Brandy Norwood and Sharon Osbourne. Regis Philbin was the host for the first year, Jerry Springer lasted two seasons and was then replaced by Nick Cannon, who has held the spot ever since. The show has found very few sustainable acts that can survive outside the AGT environs.

America's Got Talent was created in 2006 by former American Idol host Simon Cowell. The show combs the nation for Americans who boast all kinds of talent, from dance skills to singing to circus tricks. The show's most significant talent finds so far have been young opera star Jackie Evancho and Vegas headliner Terry Fator. Cowell remains the producer of AGT. The show's mission (while providing entertainment to the TV masses) is to find an act that can open In Las Vegas and that can continue to sustain an audience long after the AGT show has ceased. Some of the competing shows in Las Vegas that a winner has to contend with are: Britney Spears, Ray Romano and David Spade, Jay Leno,Jerry Seinfeld, David Copperfield, Jersey Boys, Cirque du Soleil Zarkana and The Beatles LOVE.

Get Free Tickets to NBC's America's Got Talent

Free Tickets To America's Got Talent
You can order free tickets to America's Got Talent taped in New York City and New Jersey, just not from us.

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Standby Tickets America's Got Talent
Standby tickets are available for the TV show America's Got Talent, although ticket numbers are limited.

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Should you see America's Got Talent Being Taped?

At a four hour taping of America's Got Talent they make the audience move around seats, ask you to scream at the top of your lungs and other general fake-ality rituals that TV shows want to make the at-home viewer think that the taping is one great party. Sadly, the show isn't that much fun. It is often an arduous day of clapping, standing, shouting, screaming and general audience mayhem. It will be exhausting and as an unpaid audience member you may want to leave thirty minutes in, as many people do. The audience management company may stand in your way, because they do get paid.
The tickets for this TV show are free, but it is not the best TV show experience around, as there are other TV shows that are less huge and a great deal more personal and are fun. It is at these other TV shows where you can get up close and personal to the celebrities and actually see the performer on the stage rather than view them from so far back that their facial expressions cannot be seen, unless you look at the giant TV screen, but if you have to do that, you could have done that at home. No drinks or food are supplied at this show and they will not pay for your parking, so this show is for hard core fans only, who are ready to commit to four hours of their life being entertained by sub-par entertainers after a long commute.

TV Show Studio Location:This show can be seen at the various locations below:

When Does This Show Tape:America's Got Talent is taped Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, two shows a day at 12:00 PM and 5:00 PM.

Age Requirement:
You must be over 14 years old to attend a taping of America's Got Talent.

Adding Youtube Acts To Live Shows:
To spice things up a bit producers began adding acts that have only appeared on Youtube to the live shows. These acts have never appeared on TV before and have not even auditioned for anyone before, so they are often so nervous that they cannot hold it together, but it does make for exciting television.

Confusing Format of TV Production Dates and Broadcast:
The show taping and eventual broadcast is a confusing list of dates and locations.
in New York for instance (actually newark, New Jersey) in March 2015 they shot the shows in five days and then edited them down to two shows. Then went on the road with other shows following the same format.

Free Tickets to America's Got Talent:You can get FREE tickets to America's Got Talent by going to the show's official ticket website. A link will redirect you to another page to get your free tickets. Information about that company can be found inside our guide.

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Possible Move To Danbury, CT:
NBC Universal has moved all its TV show production to its studios in Danbury, Connecticut. Expect to see this show be moved to that location to save on production costs. Getting audiences to travel to this location will be harder than it already is with The Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ. If the show does not renew with Howard Stern in the judge line-up, you can expect the show to move back to Hollywood, as NBC's costs are even lower there and the remaining judges have no problem operating out of California. Audiences are also easier to come by in the Hollywood area, especially all-year-round due to the temperate climate.

Host Nick Cannon Booed At MSG:
Nick Cannon recently received crowd boos at Madison Square Garden, when he came to promote AGT in MSG during a Knicks game . His AGT TV producers thought it would be a great idea to shoot an AGT promo at the game and for him to appear on the MSG Jumbotron and then do a trick shot (throwing the ball behind his head, while someone else throws a ball into the basket). His appearance on the Jumbotron was met with loud crowd boos and then his failed trick shot added to the crowd torment and they started getting mean. After a second, but successful attempt, Nick Cannon finally sat down and then left the stadium just ten minutes later as he appears to have little interest in the Knicks.

New Yorker’s generally do not like Nick Cannon and clearly Knicks fans positively dislike him, and now he knows it if he didn't know already. NBC’s AGT producers are well known producers of “fake-ality” TV Shows and are expected to still use the negative footage recorded at MSG, remove the loud boos, overdub the audio and edit out the fans rude hand gestures and make it appear that Mr Cannon was in fact the darling of The Garden.

Bewildering Array of Taping Locations In NYC:
Producers of AGT have created mass confusion in the choice of varied tape dates and locations for the tapings, that lead to a shortage of audience members for many shows. Major theatrical and concert venues such as a Broadway theater or the Theater at Madison Square Garden may be ideal in theory, but do not work if they are not willing to turn away other potential tenants for entire seasons at a time. Most of the traditional TV studios in the New York City area, though, are far too small. Simon Cowell (producer of the show) has said that they are always on the lookout for a venue that can accommodate somewhere between 1,000 and 3,000 people. The taping locations that have been used for the shows in the New York City area include:

- Gold Coast Studios in Long Island
This location is far from the usual locations in NYC and not so easy to get to. Gold Coast Studios is used for the "Judges Cuts" in which the panel of America's Got Talent make huge eliminations for the competition.

- Pier 92/94 on the West Side Highway
One location that the show has used Pier 92/94 on the West Side Highway, which is normally a trade show and special event venue that houses the Westminster dog show and various other corporate trade shows. AGT was relegated to such a meager environment due to scheduling conflicts. Pier 92/94 bills itself in the “heart of midtown”, but in reality it is located on the outskirts of Midtown Manhattan at 55th Street and the West Side Highway, with no subway and little public transportation going there, that does not help audience members who want to see the show, and have to battle rush-hour traffic to get there. This location only has 800 seat capacity.
- Radio City Music Hall
Probably the best location for AGT to tape in NYC, given its central location and it's seat capacity at 6000 seats makes the show feel more like a spectacle. Radio City Musical hall is often booked up solid and is quite expensive to rent when compared the NJPAC. NBC only uses Radio City when it is forced to, like for final shows etc. It convenient for all New York fans and judges to get and has great transportation links around that allows people to get in and out easily.

- Theatre At Madison Square Garden
The second location the producers use for AGT is right in the heart of NYC at the theatre at Madison Square Garden (MSG) This space is rarely available and AGT has been only able to secure a few spots to stage the show there. This is the most convenient location for the judges and audience and they have no problem at all in filling the theatre with people eager to see the show.The Theatre at MSG has only 1200 seats for the audience.

- New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC)
Located at 1 Center Street Newark, New Jersey, The Performing Arts Center in Newark is a excellent venue for AGT, but a terrible location for anyone who lives in NYC and needs to travel to New Jersey to see the show. The commute from Manhattan out to this location is long and arduous and the show is often shot during the day, meaning that public transportation may not be available during that time. Unfortunately, most New Yorkers do not have cars, so it makes the trip to this location out of the question. Parking locations are available across the street from the Prudential Center in the Military Park Garage, but drivers will have to pay $20 for the privilege. AGT will not pay for parking for ticket holders. Parking on the street is not recommended in Newark.

- Hammerstein Ballroom, 311 West 34th Street, New York, NY 10001
Better known as the location for WWE Raw, the Hammerstein Ballroom is used for part of the audition round of the show. This location is a 12,000-square-foot ballroom in NYC that has two tiers. It can officially seat 2200, but with the AGT camera's loaded, it loads just 1400 people at a complete max. The AGT producers also do not fill one side of the theatre, so the numbers are down to about 800 seats. The Hammerstein Ballroom is part of the Manhattan Center Studios.

Reaction to 2012 Addition Of Howard Stern Judge Line Up:
With the introduction of the famed shock jock and Sirius Satellite Radio personality, Howard Stern, ratings on the show shot up with an injected new vigor into the franchise that had been breathing heavily when operating out of Los Angeles.

Because of Stern's long-standing reputation as a provocateur, the Parents Television Council immediately blasted NBC for the decision to hire him as a judge on America's Got Talent, but Stern took the criticism in stride. In an interview with CNN host Piers Morgan, the man who he replaced on the judging panel, Howard Stern said, "I can assure you and the rest of America what I'm looking at here is to be a very good judge." He added, “Whatever you think of me, I'm honest and I'll give you an honest opinion."

Of course Howard Stern was not allowed to bring along any of his trusty radio sidekicks such as Robin Quivers to his new gig on America's Got Talent. He joined host Nick Cannon and Sharon Osbourne (later replaced by Mel B and Heidi Klum) and Howie Mandel. In his interview with the New York Post, producer Simon Cowell said that they wanted to bring on someone younger and female to help balance the panel, "Someone who will not be afraid of Howard and fight for a different type of act than they would. It was ironic that Osbourne was replaced, by two other women judges, both of which lacked the production experience that Osbourne brought.

Questionable Top Prize, But Invaluable Marketing and Publicity:
America's Got Talent often boasts that the winner will be awarded the top prize of one million dollars, but the fine print indicates that the prize money is before tax and is also paid out over forty years, which equates to just $12,500 per year. The winner can take a jump sum instead which is just $100,000 before taxes.

It is clear that the prize is paltry compared to the amount of publicity the artist gets from being on the TV show. It almost feels like no monetary prize is really necessary, as the intangible benefits from publicity are so strong, but NBC execs feel that the prize makes the competition more viable in many TV viewers eyes, so they have kept it alive.

TV Ratings For The Show:
The show has generally failed to be a barnstormer in the ratings, but has come in regularly at a very decent 12 million viewers per episode. The 2012 season, was the poorest in terms of ratings for the final show, coming in at 10.5 million. This was primarily due to Sharon Osbourne announcing her leaving the show because of the dispute with NBC over her sons' firing. Also the two acts in the final show, Olate Dogs and Tom Cotter were not a big favorite of television viewers, the ultimate winner was Olate Dogs.

Listless Audiences and Harsh Editing:
All the footage from AGT is recorded and then edited down to the bare minimum, so the feel of this kind of show is labored and somewhat less compelling than a “Live” show, where it seems like anything could happen. Audiences in Hollywood would often be paid to attend these kinds of shows, but the New York ones have to be run more cheaply as the cost of shooting these shows in NYC is about double the Californian rate.

The taped show also take a lot longer to shoot, often two and a half hours, with re-shoots and lighting adjustments galore, which makes the audience restless and often bored. So bored in fact that they don’t come back, especially given the amount of boos that they regularly receive after the production schedule flounders during taping.

AGT Judges Lack Production Skills:
The TV networks' face a dilemma with these kinds of talent shows. If they put too many producers on the judging panel, viewers will switch off in droves, but if they put too many artists on the judge panel, the quality of the winners suffers, because artists know very little about artist production and development and end up ruining good acts. Much like when the American Idol judges switched to all-artists, America's Got Talent has lost its mojo with the loss of Osbourne, who brought great producer skills to bear on acts.

American Idol has totally lost its way by only having artist judges now, who are very poorly equipped to develop new acts unless the judge panel was staffed by Beyonce, Jay-Z or Eminem, who are some of the few individuals able to cross the artist/producer barrier. If an artist was terrible, Eminem would waste no time in telling them how bad they really are, much like the way Simon Cowell did in the early versions of American Idol. It seems that talent shows only have one person doing that now and that is Howard Stern.

Sharon Osbourne Quits Show in 2012:The dynamic of the show was damaged in 2012 when Sharon Osbourne, who had a great dynamic with Howard Stern and Howie Mandel, quit the show. Osbourne was particularly incensed with NBC after the network fired her son, Jack Osbourne, from his upcoming "Stars Earn Stripes" reality competition series after he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. NBC denied that the cancellation had any thing to do with his diagnosis and axed the show anyway. Osbourne went on to great success in her own TV show in Hollywood, The Talk.

The closest parking is not always the best as it often takes longer to park and retrieve your vehicle as fellow TV show patrons have the same idea. A better choice of parking may be the second choice or further away by a couple of Avenues.